on which he attests as archdeacon.[1] The first of these occasions is a royal grant issued 'apud Beauveeir super Moiram', a locality which Delisle has identified with Bourg-le-roi.[2] The other is a charter, which seems to belong to the summer of 1171, to which date indeed the former might also be assigned. In both these charters we have the attestation of John archdeacon of Bath; and there is no other archdeacon of Bath at that period who bears this name.
There is no reason to suppose that John Cumin relaxed his hold on the archdeaconry until he became archbishop of Dublin. He was consecrated, as we shall see, on Palm Sunday 1182; and in that year, at some time between the beginning of March and the end of June, Peter of Blois became archdeacon of Bath.[3] So it would seem that Peter was John Cumin's successor, and it is curious to read a letter of his in which he remonstrates with his bishop, who for a petty arrear of twenty shillings has suspended his vice-archdeacon.[4] Apparently John Cumin's bad example was followed by his successor, not only in the discharge of his duties by a deputy, but also in the failure to pay his archidiaconal dues.
But we must return from this digression to take up the thread of our story. Our first sight of John Cumin was at the council of Woodstock in 1163, at the very beginning of the conflict between Becket and the king. Then we saw him at Rome in the midst of the negotiations at the end of 1166. We have now to follow him as he is sent for the second time to the papal court, when the miserable controversy is nearing its tragic close. The archbishop had landed on 1 December 1170. On that very day renewed sentences were served by order of the unforgiving prelate on the archbishop of York and the bishops of London and Salisbury: the former was suspended, the latter were excommunicated, as before. All three crossed to Normandy and laid their complaint before the king. Thereupon John Cumin was despatched by Henry to the pope, and, travelling at high speed, he arrived at Frascati a full fortnight before the envoys of the bishops. But for some time he applied in vain for a hearing. At last a promise of five hundred marks is said to have gained admission for himself and the others, who had arrived in the meantime. After that matters went well, and they were on the point of getting absolution for the bishops when the terrible news of Becket's murder suddenly changed the situation. John Cumin's labours were thrown away, and his place was soon taken by a fresh embassy from the king with a much more serious task to perform.[5]
He appears to be back in Normandy with the king in July 1171;[6] and he probably returned with him to England at the beginning of August. He was again on circuit this year in the south-western counties; but the next year he was holding an assize in Gloucestershire and Herefordshire, being associated for the former county with the famous Walter Map. In 1173 Richard of Ilchester, the archdeacon of Poitiers, became bishop-elect of Winchester; and John Cumin took over a good deal of business on his behalf in Somerset. The Pipe Boll of 1174-5 shows him crossing the
